Breaking Beauty

Think most people who go under the knife for cosmetic procedures only ask for bigger breasts and smaller stomachs? Think again. Six Pack Creation In the past, liposuction was only used to flatten areas that stuck out. Now, a handful of plastic surgeons are performing Hi Def Liposculpture, an advanced liposuction technique that creates the … Read more

Remembering a bygone time when black lacquered teeth were in vogue It was 1932 and Nguyen Thi Phu was not going to wait any longer. She and her cousins had all discussed it, and they were all going to do it together. They were old enough—the youngest was 10, the oldest 13—and the three of … Read more

While the term was coined in India, the obsession with white skin is very popular in Vietnam as well “I have had patients, expat patients, who came to me to ask why they were seeing active ingredients for skin lightening in simple, everyday-use moisturizers. That’s how widespread it is in Vietnam,” says Dr. Mark Siefring, … Read more

Nobody likes to admit that they’re particularly beautiful—to say it out loud as if it’s something objectively true. Especially in a morally conservative country like Vietnam, it flies in the face of proper modest behavior, suggesting vanity, insecurity, shallowness and blatant fanfaronade. There comes a point, however, when such modesty becomes ridiculous. In 2007, when … Read more

Beauty is pleasure, pure and simple But rare is the beauty that is pure, and rarer still the beauty that is simple. Fact is, beauty fades. Cherry blossoms and rosebuds are celebrated not just for their bloom, but also for the fact that they bloom so briefly. “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” because Shakespeare … Read more